The Plans of a Man.

(Proverbs 16:9) “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

It is that time of the year again, the countdown to 2010 has begun and many are planning their year-end break. I am also in the throes of venturing off into the sunset as I head south east into unvisited terrain, undetected to me at least. I have almost prepared my KTM 690 for our adventure, the saddlebags, long range tanks and my cameras all hazard box is in place. If it was not for the hole in my radiator I would be preparing to leave this morning. Hopefully, Lord willing I will get that seen to today so that I can then be on my way. Here is a classic example on how we should view daily living; look at our text, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” I could of been on my way today but I am not going to be able to leave now as I encountered an unexpected problem. We must always remember that we belong to the Lord and that He directs our steps. Lord willing I will do such and such! When we say we will do this and that, do we not speak brashly? We think we have everything under control, but examine your life and how it pans out, has it not gone against your bold words at times. I love the way the saints of old used to speak as if it was daily dialect, they would say, “Lord willing” almost with every sentence. Plan by all means but remember we need to tackle only one day at a time, we need to deal with our daily challenges, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. The words to a gospel song come to mind, “One day at a time sweet Jesus is all I ask of you.”

Holiday and rest is a vital part of our existence, it has been instituted by God and therefore sanctioned by Him. It is good to rest; (Genesis 2:2) “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” The fourth commandment instructs us, (Exodus 20:8) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” And how were they to do that? It tells us later on in the chapter; “but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”

I personally feel that we should keep the principle of the Sabbath alive to our daily living. Why? Well there is a greater principle than just the keeping the law. The law is a teacher to prove to us that we need a Saviour; we are unable to keep the law because of sin and our fallen state as sinners. But the rest that God shows us, in resting on the Sabbath, speaks about our hope and ultimately our eternal rest as believers. So, when we remember the Sabbath and rest one day out of the week, it should remind us of our rest that will finally be ours in the New Jerusalem, thus igniting our hope to encourage us to lay down our lives for one another. It will set fire to our hope and drive us to find grace so that we may present our bodies a living sacrifice. So then rest is good, but where we often make our mistake is how we chose to rest. We often as believers rest in the wrong places and expose ourselves to unrighteousness as we think it is just a holiday and we need to recharge, so it doesn’t matter if we drop our guard a little. It matters! That is exactly the time the devil and his warriors are most active. We must remember to put on the armour of God even in our rest. Although God has sanctioned rest, we must in our respite be vigilant, how are we to do that you may ask? I believe we must resolve to set aside a time, preferably the morning to devote our thoughts to prayer and a quite time in God’s word. We should easily be able to do this as we now have a new routine outside of our normal work schedule. This must be a time predetermine otherwise we may never get to it. We must also “consider the lilies”, we can and must enjoy our rest and God’s creation, and this in turn will get us to marvel at our great Creators awesome power and majesty as He spoke the creation into subsistence. Rest means exactly that, so find rest in all that is good, enjoy your break, but always remember true rest will only come from the one who has the ability to give rest, Jehovah, the only true living God. If we remember Him in our rest, surely He will remember to give us rest!

Signing off

Tyrone

Ps I have posted a new website/blog for my “Ktm soul searching adventure”. That should get underway, Lord willing by tomorrow. I will endeavour to keep the post updated but obviously as I may be out of range, I will, when possible post to that blog.

http://tyronektm690.blogspot.com.

The Perfect Husband!

(Song of Solomon 4:7) “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”

This is some statement, and hard for my mind to process. Naturally it is foreign to my understanding as I see many flaws when I look in the mirror, but only because I am carnal and sold under sin. The Lord Jesus will present His bride (church) without spot or blemish on that day. So then when I consider this fact and I look at my life what do others conclude? I see that I am constantly at war with my conscience; (Hebrews 9:14) “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

This is why scripture is of utmost importance as it is a compass for our lives, what we must believe and how we are to think as Christians. We are new creatures in Christ, if the spirit of Christ dwells in us. If this is true we need to use the bible to keep out the confusion and the lies. Even if we think with a different mindset to scripture we must never place feelings or emotions above the truth of scripture. (Romans 3:4) “By no means! Let God be true though everyone were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

Look at how Christ views His bride in the Song of Solomon; “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” But there seem to be many, my God! When I look in the mirror I realise that I am miles off Christ’s example, O how I long be to be more like Him! Yet although this is true as I look at my life and the mistakes I have made, and when I look around at others I see similar fruit, but then I am reminded that it is not my sacrifice that God our Father has received. It was never any of our sacrifices that please God and they never will in that sense. He was well please in His beloved Son. (Matthew 17:5) "...This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Once again we are reminded of Christ perfect work on Calvary, His sacrifice time-honoured by the only true God, His father. I love you Lord Jesus, no matter wherever our minds look to deceive us, by luring us into believing a liar, you are quick through your word to bring understanding. My soul loves it when I see Jesus high and lifted up. Lift Him even higher I pray!

Look at this verse, “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” What? Excuse me; your church is all together lovely! Look at our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus He does not make mention of the flaws in the church, in fact He says there is no flaw in her. What husband is able to overlook his wife’s imperfections, he will possibly accept them by not be able to ignore them. The Lord our great husband, not only accept but He sees no flaw. He does not say He will remove the spots one by one and deal with the blemishes as and when He sees fit to do it. In the law, any animal that had a spot or blemish was unfit for sacrifice; (Leviticus 1:10) “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish.” “If he had said there is no hideous scar, no horrible deformity, no deadly ulcer, we might even then have marvelled; but when he testifies that she is free from the slightest spot, all these other forms of defilement are included, and the depth of wonder is increased. If he had but promised to remove all spots by-and-by, we should have had eternal reason for joy; but when he speaks of it as already done, who can restrain the most intense emotions of satisfaction and delight”

What really amazes me is that Christ does not quarrel with His wife, she often wanders from him, and grieves his Holy Spirit, but he does not allow her faults to affect his love. “He sometimes chides, but it is always in the tenderest manner, with the kindest intentions: it is “my love” even then.” How great is our God, how vast His amazing love, my lips can barely start to declare the abundance of His never-ending love. When I look at my husband’s example and then look at mine as a husband, I am left gutted! Yet, there is still hope for me, thank you Jesus. “There is no remembrance of our follies, he does not cherish ill thoughts of us, but he pardons and loves as well after the offence as before it. It is well for us it is so, for if Jesus were as mindful of injuries as we are, how could he commune with us? Many a time a believer will put himself out of humour with the Lord for some slight turn in providence, but our precious Husband knows our silly hearts too well to take any offence at our ill manners.”

It was only Christ sacrifice that the Father accepted. It will never be any other sacrifice, may we never forget this. May this truth drive us to love one another and lay our lives down for each other. God grant us grace for today, so that our lives would speak of our Saviour love, amen.

Signing off

Tyrone

A Reminder!

(Genesis 15:1) "...Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

How often do I disregard the wiles of the enemy, I need to be constantly reminded that all those enlisted in the army of the King of Kings and who has a general that goes by the name of "Lion-Lamb" must remain fit, alert and on the lookout for the enemy. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Ephesians 6:12) “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This text tells us that we must not be lost in the mundane cares of this life, blaming our siblings in the Lord for the difficulties they may bring upon us. Our battle goes far deeper than the surface. There is a war that rages violently and we are the target. All those who have enlisted have been singled out. Let us not lose sight of this fact! With that understanding we are then able to view the trials of life with a different perspective. It will help us deal with issues with a level of maturity as we are no longer caught off guard. Knowledge is a wonderful gift from God. Yesterday was World Aids Day and I was privileged enough to address five Companies on what it means to live with HIV. There is a lot of information on the subject and people have been warned about its dangers and so they have been told! They have received the information, what they do with it now is entirely up to them. Will they make that knowledge their own? In like manner, will we take lessons from God’s Word and with the awareness we receive from God the Holy Spirit, will we embrace it and use it to help us in time of need. Will we? We must! I have encounter HIV suffers who have heard about the dangers of HIV but never taken the virus seriously, to their damage, they are no longer with us. So it is obvious, if we have medication that will keep us alive from a deadly virus, then we must adhere to its protocol and if we don’t, well then we must not be surprised if death is prominent. The brilliance and the beauty of our position in the Lord are extremely unique. We stand enlisted in God’s army with Christ as our righteousness, please let that sink in! He has defeated the devil but now the devil rages against us so that we will look outside our covering in Christ and he does this by enticing us with the cares of life, he distracts our attention. Be alert and do not be easily diverted. We are of the family of Abram, we have been adopted into his promise; "...Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." If we are part of this family then we are entitled to our inheritance in the life to come, but we must remain faithful unto the end. In order to remain faithful we must have knowledge and make it our own and then call upon it when need. Simple enough, but we are so often distracted, I am so often distracted. We must however grow-up and begin to stand against the schemes of the devil. We would not be told to put on the armour of God if it wasn’t needed, it is needed! (Ephesians 6:13) “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Have you ever considered why we need a shield? In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, as it is one of the biggest threat to our existence as Christians, when we walk in unbelief. It will eventually lead to disobedience and then the threat of not entering into heaven becomes a real one. We must remember that it is Christ who was the victor on Calvary’s cross. We are sanctified by Him and not by our own efforts. Because of His victory, we must walk as He walks in triumph, remembering that our conquests solely depend in Him and nothing else. Move away from this mindset and the enemy has lured us in to believing a lie. In Christ alone I stand! But I must find grace on a daily basis to be reminded of this truth, and when grace is my portion I am able to wield this shield with skill and when the fiery darts are violently fired at me I am able to stand using the shield of faith to defend myself. Christ is exalted, He is magnified and the enemy is silenced.

May our confidence remain solely upon the finished work of our magnificent Saviour, the one and only Christ Jesus our Lord, the One who is now seated at the right hand of the Father who makes intersession, day and night, for His sheep? He is the great shepherd, may we never wander so far that He is out of sight. May we have our eyes fix on Him and may we learn from Him. We love you lord Jesus; give us courage to confess you before men. As you have taught us if we confess you before men you will confess us before your Father. How I long for that day!

Signing off

Tyrone

The Perfect Sacrifice

(Hebrew 10:12) “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

I love the sound of birds in full song as the sun is yet to break the horizon. They seem so full of life and their melody so sweet to the ear. I wonder how sweet the fruit of my life is to our Heavenly Father. I wonder when I cry out to Him is it sugary to His ear. It will be saccharine when I consider His grandeur, His will and when I present my body as a living sacrifice. However when I am all about self and no longer thankful for my Saviours forfeit here on earth, then I must be rather unsavoury. If likened to a bird in the early hours of the morning, I would probably fly with the noisy and aggravating birds that cry in the early hours of the morning waking people up before the buzz of their alarm clocks, leaving them rather irritated and not thankful.

When I look into the mirror, it then dawns on me, why and what it meant for Jesus Christ to be sent from God the Father to die on a cruel cross and pay the price for sin.

With great reverence I want us to try and put ourselves in God’s shoes this morning and try reason from His point of view. I realise this is almost impossible as He is so far above us in every way, but let us just consider his dealings with man. He created Adam after His likeness an in His image. The creator the one in control, the designer with the final say had a plan and he gave Adam instruction. Which Adam followed for a time until sin entered in and he disobeyed. Death then became a reality to them as their son eventually killed his brother, Cain killed Able! God then witnesses a somewhat horrific role that sin and death play on His creation. In fact man becomes so sinful that He determines to destroy them. Let us think about our Fathers emotions at this point in time; (Genesis 6:5-7) “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." Even the animals would now pay for mans sin.

I do realise it is hard for us to think as God thinks but let us try to understand how He was feeling in this place in history. What if I had the capabilities to design something that would aid me in daily living, let’s say I could design a robot; this robot would tend for me, clean and cook. On completion of the project I started it up and find instead of cleaning it make a mess and when it cooked it burnt everything. I do not think for one second that I would leave it to its own devises; I would unplug it and end its life right there and then. I may try and fix it but if it was unfixable I would destroy it, I am convinced of that. Thank God, that Noah found favour in His eyes and through him and his offspring the world was re-populated.

Then Moses has his encounter with God in the Wilderness and he is singled out to rescue the children of Israel out of slavery, in Egypt, on God’s command. The means in which God chooses to rescue them is a graphical display of His awesome power. Plague after plague depicts His sovereignty and His ability to shape and mould even peoples heart for His good pleasure; (Exodus 9:12) “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” God in total control, even if you think He is not, He was and always will be in control. Moses is given the law of God. The Ten Commandments and is instructed to command his people to follow it. They follow well at times and terribly in other periods. A sin offering is required by the law for the forgiveness of sins. I want us to consider what this entailed. When a sin was committed then a sin offering was require to cover that sin an animal was to be sacrificed. An animal had to bleed to cover God’s requirement as He cannot bare sin, and is an offense to Him. Think about this ritual and the logistics it brought with it. It had to be repeated over and over and often for the same sin. Think of God’s patience in and through it all. Eventually, although the law is good and was instituted to teach us that we are sinful by nature and we cannot because of Adam’s fall keep God’s law, the law taught us that we needed a Saviour, we cannot save ourselves and need help and that is why God sent His Son to pay the price for sin. God is Love and this proves it! When the Lord Jesus cried out, “it is finished” that is exactly what He meant. The battle had been won, no more need to offer daily sacrifices so that we could find our acceptance before a holy God. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” No longer does God require an ongoing sacrifice that is why I am able to commune with the only true living God, because I am covered and acceptable in the beloved all because of His sacrifice. God no longer looks at my sin but accepts me, because Jesus became a curse on my behalf so that I can go free. This is important to understand; if I sin and feel that because of my sin I am not worthy of God’s acceptance, then I undermine Christ’s work on Calvary, I am received because He was able not because I am able. The danger we as humans face in this truth is that we might feel that because we have been freed that we can continue in sin that grace may abound. The truth never changes; we should and will not have this attitude if we understand the magnitude of what it meant for Christ to die for me. But in theory, my sin has no bearing on my acceptance into God’s presence, I am only ever accepted because God the Father was happy with His Son’s sacrifice and sees His righteousness and not my sin. I trust we understand this truth. May we find liberty in serving our God as we have been freed from the law of sin and death? The war rages on but with correct thinking we can march on joyously to the Celestial City. Remembering the hope that is set before us, and may it squeeze ever so tightly that we must be reminded to breathe.

Signing off

Tyrone

Never to Slander!

(Leviticus 19:16-17) “You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people... but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him.”

I am constantly fascinated how God uses scripture to rebuke and teach me; It is not the context of the text that surprises me, God is perfect in wisdom and therefore I expect to be taught from His Word, however it is the way in which I am often taught that intrigues me. Let me use the case in point; I have been rather hard-pressed of late and have looked for answers from God’s word on how to react to a certain issue I need to deal with. The word is full of knowledge but I am carnal, sold under sin, simply put, my heart looks to justify itself so that I may excuse myself. This means that I can get a distorted view on scripture if I am not careful. This is why contextual unpacking of scripture verses is essential. God the Holy Spirit mesmerizes me with His ingenious insight through application in showing me truths by using different means to highlight a reality. I am not referring to any spiritual reference made by some wannabe prophet, someone has a word and speaks into my life and I have no way of testing what has been said to me. That in itself is folly; we must examine every word that proceeds from the mouths of others and it must always be examined by scripture. If I am told that someone had a vision I must sell everything and move to the Hollywood and God will bless me. To even consider such a though would be ludicrous. Why? Well, let’s use scripture to explain; (Hebrews 1:1-2) “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

So, yes in the Old Testament a lot of reference is made to God speaking in this way. But now that Christ has come and paid the price for sin and has told us while He hung on the cross, “it is finished”, we need now only receive instruction from Him. He has always loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He has also been touched by the weakness of our infirmities and therefore understands the weakness of the flesh. He was a man and experience life as a man, so how does he speak? Well, He is the Word and so He verbalizes through the pages of the bible. He will never permit the words of the bible to speak against His Father that will be impossible as it would mean that He would deny Himself making Him a liar, which is impossible. (Hebrews 6:18) “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie...” That is why we must always examine what people say by using the bible to find out whether what they say it is true or not. If someone tells me to read a particular scripture as they feel it may have some bearing on a decision in my life and it may help me make an accurate assessment, then by all means, I must welcome it, but I must always remember to contextualise!

Yesterday I had to consider how I should go about addressing a pressing matter. I finished blogging and then read C.H.Spurgeon’s daily blog; this is why I tell you I am amazed at God’s brilliance and the way God the Holy Spirit, rebukes when needed, and in love realigned my thinking.

He used Spurgeon’s blog. Firstly, think about when it was written, it was around 1855 and that someone else chose to use this day to associate the message from his blog with the 29^th of November 2010. I happened to stagger upon his message, or did I stagger, I think not! God uses these types of means to help direct our paths.

This is what the blog had to say; “Tale-bearing emits a threefold poison; for it injures the teller, the hearer, and the person concerning whom the tale is told. Whether the report be true or false, we are by this precept of God’s Word forbidden to spread it. The reputations of the Lord’s people should be very precious in our sight, and we should count it shame to help the devil to dishonour the Church and the name of the Lord. Some tongues need a bridle rather than a spur. Many glory in pulling down their brethren, as if thereby they raised themselves. Noah’s wise sons cast a mantle over their father, and he who exposed him earned a fearful curse. We may ourselves one of these dark days need forbearance and silence from our brethren, let us render it cheerfully to those who require it now. Be this our family rule, and our personal bond-SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN.”

“The Holy Spirit, however, permits us to censure sin, and prescribes the way in which we are to do it. It must be done by rebuking our brother to his face, not by railing behind his back. This course is manly, brotherly, Christlike, and under God’s blessing will be useful. Does the flesh shrink from it? Then we must lay the greater stress upon our conscience, and keep ourselves to the work, lest by suffering sin upon our friend we become ourselves partakers of it. Hundreds have been saved from gross sins by the timely, wise, affectionate warnings of faithful ministers and brethren. Our Lord Jesus has set us a gracious example of how to deal with erring friends in his warning given to Peter, the prayer with which he preceded it, and the gentle way in which he bore with Peter’s boastful denial that he needed such a caution.”

We must never sweep pressing matters under the carpet, but we must always attend to then using God instruction through His Word on how they should be addressed.

May we find grace and the courage in love in address any pressing matter that we have neglected for so long? Be bold and brave in and through our victorious Saviour remembering that the victory is His and it is finished.

Signing off

Tyrone

Self-Examination

(1Corinthians 11:28) “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

This truth is of such vital importance... how quick I am to shift the judgement from myself on to others. The text is very clear I am commanded to “examine myself” and only once I have been thorough with my study can I then “eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” I think we should spend a lot more time examining ourselves, yet never lose sight of why we do it? We scrutinize our lives on a daily basis so that we can be thankful for salvation and by proofing that we are thankful we will present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God, which is no great exploit, it is what is required from us. When I fail to examine myself, I then will be disciplined by the Lord so that I will not be condemned with the world. Like any father worth his salt, he will correct his child so he may be furnished for life, as all the cruel, harsh realities it will in time throw at him. I am in a period now where I need to scrutinize myself as I have many conflicting thoughts that rage, endeavouring to get me to lose sight of the call upon my life. In times past when I had to confront similar circumstances, I have failed. As I mentioned in previous blogs, there comes a time in every believers life where they need to put off childish things and start taking responsibility as men, standing up for what they believe, and they must be counted. However, the danger I face is not firstly examining MYSELF, pray for me if you would, so that our God and Father would receive all the glory in whatever God in the future has in store for my life. And above all, that Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour would be praised in and through it all. I am convinced that if I sweep something under the carpet for the sake of avoiding conflict I could possibly be building wedges that will ultimately cause division and would lead to discord amongst believers and that is unacceptable, God hates this; (Proverbs 6:19) “a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Who would ever in their right mind look to have the ever powerful God pouring out His wrath in judgement on them? I understand that God is for His children and never against them, but I also understand what it means to be disciplined by this great wonderful majestic God, my heavenly Father, and although it is needful at times, it is never enjoyable to the flesh. Once discipline has had a major role in one’s life, it must begin to bear fruit and I believe it will, because it is God who has instituted it. He has placed His stamp of approval on the area of discipline. He is perfect and understands all things present and in the future and therefore I am thankful for discipline as it will yield its peaceable fruit.

(Hebrews 12:11) “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” To consider how great you are Father, it blows my mind into orbit. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” And yet you have shown me the lesson of love, through discipline. I am thankful!

A soldier after his basic training is given the option to branch off into a particular field. There are different requirement and positions that need filling in order for the unit to run efficiently. There are those who need to hand out equipment to provide the combat soldiers with the arsenal needed to be capable fighters. There are also the elite, the selected few that must gather scouting information on the enemy and to do this they are trained to be invisible and they are often alone and vulnerable. Very few apply for this course and even fewer qualify. Nevertheless some are needed. My point is as Christians we have also enrolled in God’s army and there are many positions that need filling, we need to step up and be countered. In God sovereignty, we are left with choices to make. I realise that when we copout on the correct choice we will be subject to discipline. This is a process that may last a lifetime. Moses wandered in the Wilderness but after his “burning bush” encounter he put his hand to the plough and never looked back. Will we be like so many others that shirked their responsibility to national service back when it was compulsory for all young men leaving school? Or will we except the call upon our lives and be serious in finding God’s will for our lives. Or will we find some loophole to worm our way out of this eternal call-up, I trust we will look for grace, to bring glory to our God, whatever the cost. May His love overshadow any doubt that would resist His will for our lives, may our hope continue to squeeze ever so tightly.

Signing off

Tyrone

Judge Ourselves

(1Corinthians 11:29) “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

I am thrilled when brothers wrestle with scripture and look for answers to daily life in and through the bible. There is nothing I should get more excited about. But my very best is when God the Spirit reveals truth in and through the Word. When I have a question I need answered and I find the answer in the bible, I am then grateful and reassured that I am in God’s army and He cares for me. How often through life, have you wrestled with a particular issue and looked for answers, I know this has happen to me on a number of occasions. But whether it is through ministry, a prayer or even reading the bible, when the light switch comes on it is very refreshing. I love these moments in my life. I am sure you have also experienced times like these. This beautiful Sunday morning is a day like that...

Once I have dealt with all the common questions and have concluded in my spirit, and my mind is persuaded that I am a child of God. I am convinced that Jesus died in my stead; I am convinced that I have a black heart and nothing in me outside of Christ is worth even speaking about. Without Him, I deserve death and hell. Once all these truths have sunk into our hearts, then we, then I, contemplate this walk of mine on a regular basis. I do it even now! I look for answers to issues that affect me and those around me.

I see and understand that until a person looks in a mirror and concludes that they are wicked and that no good thing dwells in them, that they will struggle with the magnitude of what it meant for the Holy One to die and take away our sin. This is I believe where true God centred repentance and man centred repentance meet, this truth is what separates the sheep from the goats. When I believe I am not such a bad person, then I have not understood how wicked I actually am. God must reveal this truth to me in order for me to receive his spirit. If I am justified by my works then the death of Christ on the cross was not ever really needed. This may be a subtle distortion of the truth by your mind, but it could cost us true repentance. The Apostle Paul explains our state before God like this; (Romans 3:10) “As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;” If there is even a slight trace of self justification in my reasoning I am in trouble, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We now get to our text; “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” What I find intriguing is when the Lord had communion with His disciples, His last supper with them, the text tells us by highlighting that in the “same night as He was betrayed He took bread and broke it.” That means even the goats (professing believers who are not true believers) will gather around the table and eat bread that has been broken in remembrance of His death. They will give very little though to what it meant for Christ to have His blood spilt on our behalf. But the instruction to believers is the point I want us to embrace with open arms.

Last night I was amongst believers and the topic of God’s judgement was discussed, hence my blog and deliberation for this morning. The question posed was, “can we be under God’s judgement for long periods of time, like Israel found themselves under God’s judgement?” Yes we can, but we need not stay there, this text in particular teaches us that. I will remain in a place where I will be judge by God, or put it this way, disciplined by God if I hold to self justification not acknowledging that I am justified by Christ’s work on Calvary. When I try to excuse myself, when I think I am better than others, even if others say you are, is not the point. If I do not put my brothers and sisters before me esteeming them higher than myself as the word instructs me to do. When I reason like this I am proud and God will resist me, I will be under the judge as He judges me and that is a place no one will enjoy. But when I am broken and have a contrite heart then I am restored and find joy and peace in serving Him, I find that because God is merciful, I am no longer shackled by His judgement by free to find forgiveness and I can serve Him once again with a clear conscience. We must not overlook the most important point, it is the Lord Jesus’ once and for all time sacrifice, never to be repeated that justifies us before God as His children. When we forget to remember our first love (Jesus), then we are judged and life then becomes a drag and it is hard to understand at times. Repentance is where it is at, if we repent, we are forgiven immediately, and although my bad decisions have left a wake of destruction that I am still dealing with on a daily basis. I am able through it all to find joy and peace, with the hope that one day I will see my God and Father, my Saviour as they are and I will forever be with them, I will receive a body that is incorruptible and there will be no more pain there, tears will have dried up and nothing that is able to defile will ever enter that glorious place, the New Jerusalem. May our hope grip us so tightly that we have to remember, to breathe.

Signing off

Tyrone

Wisdom or Folly?

(1Kings 5:12) “And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him.

The thought of understanding and what does that actually mean is rather larger with me this morning. So much of our daily lives hinges on what we understand. Understanding determine the way we act and behave, it speaks volumes in reflection to our character and all that drives us.

Look at the ostrich; (Job 39:13-17) “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labour be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.”

The ostrich has no part in wisdom as she lacks understanding, why? The text tells us, “God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.” A man, who does not appreciate that God sent his son to die for the sins of sinner, lacks understanding and he makes no provision for the second death. He does not realize that there is a judgement coming and that all who are not covered by the sacrifice of the blood of the lamb will be judged for their very own sin. The judge will be; the One who died for sin, conquering all its strongholds and power on a cruel Roman cross, on a hill called Golgotha. The Lord Jesus will be that judge! That is why the Lord Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. God must first give him sight to see before he can understand, that is the principle.

David’s son Solomon did not ask God for wealth and worldly possessions, but wisdom. “And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him.” I would like us to draw a parallel between wisdom and folly, the ostrich and Solomon. Firstly we must understand that we cannot be taught Godly wisdom in that sense, we must receive it from God. Yes I do agree that life and its challenges will aid in that process. All we need to do is look at Solomon’s life and it is easily seen that by trial he proved wisdom. However without God imparting a portion of His understanding even though we might have a doctorate in medicine or even theology for that matter we will not understand as we should. Let’s look at the ostrich; “God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.” We must ask for it! (James 1:5) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Solomon asked God and God gave him wisdom and understanding. We must ask in order to receive. “And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him.” I trust we will all be asking when we see the advantage of understanding.

Let’s look at a secular example that I think we could all relate to. As a child I can recall being told not to put my finger into a plug socket. Just the thought of a shock and what I had conjured in my mind on what that would feel like, kept me from doing exactly that. However for the sake of our illustration, if a toddler was not warned of the dangers of the jolt and they put their finger into the socket and were shocked and they survived the joggle, do you think they would look to make it a pastime on a daily basis, I think not! The lesson would have been learnt and the wall plug avoided. But they would have the knowledge that the socket carried a danger and with that knowledge they would then avoid the threat. They would now understand not to approach the hazard and avoid it at all costs. It is understanding that keeps us from erring in our daily lives. When we sin we be short of understanding, so if we continue to sin in a particular area of our lives we defiantly lack understanding. We must then ask God earnestly to give us understanding so that we do not fall into the trap of sin.

Proverbs is full of hidden treasure that is free to all who seek it out. “A foolish youth will often go to a harlot, like an ox to the slaughter, but the youngster who has understanding will avoid her house even if that means his journey would take longer. “And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, and, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goes after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;”

When we know to do well and we do not do it, whatever that may entail we act as a fool and it is evident for all around to witness. I only share this important truth with you as my life has had its measure of folly. Enough I say, we all need to put off childish things and stand up as men or godly woman and be countered. Yes, this is an ongoing battle the spirit and the flesh at loggerheads with one another, but will we resolve to apply this mindset to our lives? Yes we may fall but are we driven to seek forgiveness and seek out wisdom as if our lives depended upon it. They do you know! We are covered by the blood of the lamb, but will we now use grace as a license to sin, I hope not! For all that is proving is that we lack understanding. Let us be bold as we approach the throne of grace with determination, asking God with confidence to give us wisdom and understanding in whatever area we know we lack. Everything we need for this life and the life to come is available to all of God’s children, all we need do is ask. Let us stop wasting time on ill directed requests but rather find what is good, expectable and perfectly in accordance with God’s will for our lives. May we love one another as we love ourselves.

Signing off

Tyrone

Wait for the Lord.

(Psalm 27:14) “...; wait for the LORD!”

I love the way David’s confidence in the Lord can be seen time and again, when reading through the Psalm’s it is clearly visible. His life was very full. Not only was he a king and all the responsibility that entailed, but his life was full of trial, testing and even failure at times. However, when he fell into temptation it did not take long for him to see his mistake and turn to the only righteous God and seek out His forgiveness. He took God very seriously, do we? His life was a life filled with happenings; He made a married woman pregnant, he had a faithful husband and soldier killed so that he could cover up his own sin. He lost a son at birth as a consequence of his sin. He had his adult children at loggerheads and his son Absalom died trying to over-through his kingdom. Yet David had such a heart of love that he wept for Absalom although he wanted to destroy his father. King Saul was also his enemy and he had to run from him. He killed lions and bears when they tried to steal his sheep, he was a great shepherd! And then of course his greatest accomplishment with the whole of Israel watching, he slew Philistine champion Goliath with a stone, slingshot and with God’s backing. There is much more we could say about David, but the point in question must be his heart. It was massive in faith, and was loved by God. We must seek to have a heart like David, massive in faith and trust wherever we may find ourselves on this Celestial road to the New Jerusalem. Whether we be picking ourselves out of one of its ditches or we may even be on a hilltop with a great view and confident with our surrounding, wherever we find ourselves we must “wait for the Lord”, we must be careful not to run ahead on Him as He has walk this road and knows all its pitfalls. Lock hands with Him and it will go well with us. We all have abilities that are God given, yet we could seek solace in those abilities rather than in the finished work of Calvary. We have not been left guessing on how we should react and then how to act with the Word of God (bible) as our instructor. If we see God Himself commending an individual, we must sit up and take note, which one of us does not want to be commended by their God and Father? We all seek His recognition, and then let us follow David’s case in point; “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

David’s heart and spirit was often crying out for help, we must also always cry out for help! (Psalms 27:7-14) “Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

We must learn to depend solely upon the Lord, for He is and will always be our strength. This is what it means to walk in faith, regardless of my surroundings; even if I am to be burnt on a stake I must remember to “WAIT FOR THE LORD”, I must trust Him!

Grace is needed to endure whatever may befall us, but there is a supply so great that we could never exhaust its supply. Therefore let us remember to come boldly to the throne of grace so that we may find it to help in time of need, Amen.

Signing off

Tyrone

Before God or Men?

(Matthew 6:1) “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men.”

Here we have another classical example that God’s ways are far above the justification that men have stumble upon seeking out acceptance. This in itself proves that we need recognition and we need to have our ego’s stroked. The Lord Jesus who was and who is God, never once walked the face of the earth trying to find acceptance to the exclusion of His Father’s will. It has always been about God’s resolve and it will forever be about His will. Let us consider the act of a charitable deed. If I give money to the poor but I do not recognise God as the one who equips me with the insight and material wealth to aid someone in need, I exalt myself and seek recognition from men and often much is said about this. How often have you read about some great rich man or woman that has giving millions to charity? When I enter into this realm the Word clearly teaches me that I have my reward. I am honoured by men. Let me ask a question, how the honour of men will assist me in the day of judgement, as they will also stand under the judgement of God and be evaluated. It is only the judge you can pass a ruling and not those who are under the judge. People’s opinions will have little bearing on that day. It is important you understand the law so that you may abide by it. I love the way the Word speaks so simply, we often try and complicate its interpretation, and often to our own detriment. Here we see how God views charitable deeds! It is clear that we are to do them secretively, why? It proves that we recognise that God is real to us and although we cannot see Him with our physical eyes, He is plainly seen to those who believe on the Lord Jesus and all those who have His spirit. If and when we act in obedience to God’s will, He will act righteously, as He is righteous and the laws of His existence unfold in accordance to His will. If I have not understood this principle and I find that I still seek recognition from men with my charitable deeds, then I am concerned for my own salvation as “repentance from dead works” is one of the first foundation blocks that must be laid in a believer’s heart. I am justified by the work of the cross and not by men exalting me as a good person. I can do nothing in myself to find justification by God to inherit salvation. That however does not mean I am excuse from charitable deeds, I must have the heart of giving freely to others, the Lord Jesus gave of His life freely so that I could live. When we read proverbs and its wisdom is unearthed we see God making reference to Him being pleased with those who look out for the poor. We must take care of orphans and widows, but we must do it in secret; (Matthew 6:2-4) "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Avoid every attempt that is a man centred attempt to be justified by God; it is a lie from the devil Himself. Sin is a tricky deceiver; it has many forms and will always look for survival. The day is coming when it will have its reward, it will be squashed like a bug underfoot. I elongate for that day, as sin has been hard on me. All I need to do is glance down at my body and I see the scars of its effect on my life. My right femur is two inches shorter than the other, I have a deadly virus living in my body and looking to possess it and take control, my testimony has been tainted by it and my mind recalls thoughts that my eyes have witness throughout life, with many of those deliberations in direct opposition to who God is. The war rages on! Sin is to blame for all of this. Sin an enemy that will be bound up in the Lake of Fire with the Devil and all his followers. Even death is a fruit of sin, death only entered in to the existence of mankind after Eve ate of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Prior to this death was foreign to their understanding, if they understood that their lives would eventually end, they would have made eating fruit from the Tree of Life a priority, yet the idea never entered their minds until they ate from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, against God’s commandment. It was only then that God placed cherubim’s with flaming swords to protect the fruit from getting into immoral hands, they were to keep it away from people awake to sin.

Until God sent His great Son, my great Saviour to break the shackles of sin by defeating it by its own rules; He squashed the father of sin by defeating him in an “away game”. He did it as a man and on earth, how great is our Redeemer, what an amazing exploit! Jesus the one who came to take away the sin of the world, and now because of His accomplishment I can go free, do we understand the magnitude of what this really means dearly beloved? We serve such a great, merciful, gracious God, may He teach us to love Him with an unattainable desire in adoring Him more. You are so worthy of our all our worship, our great Jehovah, please be patient with us, I realise how impatient I am with others and yet require your fortitude with me. My mind cannot fathom why you chose to die for me, yet I am abundantly thankful and understand that Christ’s sacrifice requires my all. Your word through the Apostle Paul instructs us all to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto you, it is only our reasonable service and nothing more, but yet we long to hang on to our wills even if it is contrary to yours, forgive us I pray and change our hearts so that our wills will reflect our Saviours glorious example in every area of our lives.

So may we remember to do charitable deeds, but it must be in secret, not allowing our left hand to know what my right hand is doing. God sees all, and never let us think differently. If we abide in Him, he abides in us and we will be the beneficiaries of His grace and He will reward those who diligently seek Him, openly! This is a way of finding favour from our Father and not seeking futile recognition from men that will have very little benefit.

Signing off

Tyrone

Two Masters!

(Matthew 6:24) “No man can serve two masters:”

This is a very interesting statement the Lord Jesus made when addressing not the multitudes, but His very own disciples. I think the Lord purposefully makes distinctions when teaching; depending on who it is he is teaching. We see in the parable of the talents that one received two talents, another five and another ten. There are different measures that God gives to His children and therefore differing roles amongst believers. Not all are meant to teach, but some must. Does that mean there is a set of rules for one and another put for others? No, just differing measures, we have all been called to a life of holiness. Salvation is by grace through faith and it is a gift of God, not of works, least any man boast about his accomplishments, as a Christian you may find yourself demanding validation in your accomplishments as a believer. You can never do anything that will leave you claiming salvation by works. This must sink in to our futile brains; it is the core to our foundation. When we apply this mindset to our lives we no longer see grace as a free gift, unmerited favour but we look for justification through our actions to verify salvation. This can get tricky as we know that salvation by works is of the devil and not from God. So every apparent Christian organisation that teaches salvation by works does not carry God’s blessing. All that the law taught us was that we could never keep it and therefore it worked as a catalyst to prove to us that we need help and therefore needed someone to save us. The law is good and God used it as a tutor to assist us in realising that we were in big trouble, forcing us to cry out for help. There is only one way we can find acceptance before a righteous God and that is through the finished work of Calvary, in and through the person of Jesus Christ, there is no other justification acceptable before God. And as soon as we shift in our mindset on this truth we become proud and will soon come tumbling down, why? “God resists the proud by gives grace to the humble.” I do not think we are capable of living in this frame of mind, by constantly embracing this truth. We will always move between the realms of excusing of accusing ourselves as believers. We should however give no opportunity to justify this thinking. I would rather err on the side of guilt; guilt is a friend that will often lead you down the path of repentance. Self justification by excusing ourselves as we look at other and say, “I am not like that”, it makes one proud and that means I will face God’s resistance and let’s face it who wants that, no-one, we all look for His assurance as it is our comfort and it secures our hope. So we must never try and justify ourselves by what we do, when we do this we undermine the magnitude of Christ accomplishment on earth. We start in the spirit, we are born again (regeneration if you like) and we must remain in the spirit; remain with the mindset that God who rich in mercy has freely given us life and eyes to see heaven. There is a danger for all believers to want to prove their worth by finding justification in the flesh. Remember the church of Galatia; “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:” They got saved and then deliberated that by circumcision it would make them feel and look godlier. They are vehemently rebuked for this attitude. The danger is real, so let us always remind ourselves and others that we are saved by grace through faith and it is a gift from God, it is His work and has nothing to do with us and our accomplishments. With that understood we must look at the other side of the coin, James says; (James 1:7-8) “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” In other words now that we have been saved and belong to the Lord and our heavenly Father, as we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and He now lives within us, we must walk with confidence in the finished work of Calvary. Our lives must begin to take on the shape of our Lord and Saviour; we must begin to show fruit that will glorify our God. We must continually fight against all that opposes Him in His finished work. James again put it like this; (James 2:14-17) “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Our lives must begin to bear fruit proving that we have been saved! See the difference! We can never be justified by what we do, because we have received a free gift from God and He has facilitated us to see the hope of eternal life. We no longer belong to ourselves. Our responsibility as believers is to be about our Fathers business.

It is with this in mind that I would like us to view the principle from our scripture text; “No man can serve two masters:” Why? We are trained by our Lord to examine the facts in our lives. If we hold to two opinions then we will err in our fairness to one of our masters. We will love the one and despise the other because they require different tasks. One master looks for us to find success and achievement in this life while the other demands that we lay down our lives for others storing up treasure for a world that is yet to come. They are exclusively opposite and so can never find harmony as they pull in differing directions. The bottom line we cannot serve God and mammon. One will eventually give way to the other. However the choice for all of us who believe is an easy one. Let us serve God and let Him take care of our needs as He knows how to give good gifts unto His children. We must never think that we will lose out if we do not secure our own future by what we invest in this life. That is not faith, and it proves that we doubt our God’s ability to supply all our needs, easy said than done, but only if we think with our carnal minds.

Help us please our heavenly Father find a resolve that would be so resolute that it would shadow Joshua and Caleb’s example. We seek to serve only you as our master but we need grace to help in time of need, Amen.

Signing off

Tyrone

Mr worldly Wise!

(Matthew 19:30) “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

It will be good for us to remember that God’s ways are far above our ways and that we must learn to take up our cross on a daily basis and follow Him. We need to be reminded of this truth as our minds are fickle and need renewing. I am often left standing in awe as I gaze into this magnificent plan of my great Jehovah, so many principles that are foreign to all of the world’s wisdom. That is why the wise will be caught at their own game as God mocks them in their foolishness as they say that there is no God. Or they imply that only the weak and foolish would believe in an unseen God. A people that live for the here and now and yet they make provision for loved ones in the form of death policies, proviso is made for life after death. Mr Worldly Wise does not ignore paying a life insurance premium while alive on earth but will casually turn a blind eye to making stipulation for the life here after.

On the back of this kind of reasoning Paul then pens with boldness the following; (1Corinthians 1:19-20) “for it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” And how has He done that? Ingeniously though a simple message of hope in and through His magnificently ever Loving Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. (1Corinthians 1:21) “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” The gospel is a simple message that does not involve one of Einstein’s discoveries that proves the theory of relativity. It is a simple message of how God Himself became a man (God in the flesh) and He live on earth under the ruling authorities yet without sin and then was judge as one who transgressed the law; He was falsely accused under the rule of Pontius Pilate and was sentence to death by crucifixion. He died, paying the price for sinners on a cruel Roman cross and yet throughout His whole life He never once broke God’s law. He lived a sinless life so that sinners who found repentance could escape the upcoming judgement. Every single human being without immunity will be privy to God’s judgement in one form or another, some finding eternal life, yet many being ushered into death and a life or rather a never-ending death of total separation from light and God who is light. Do you remember fearing the dark as a child; well I tell you that was child’s play! The realm of hell is real and will play its part in eternity. Shake the sleep from your eye you sluggard; look at creation and how all things have been wonderfully made. How brilliant must the creator then be? Intensely and skilfully leaps and bounds above creation and all that has been created, especially mankind. Why does man with arrogance then serve the creation by endeavouring to save it and yet they disregard the one who has the power to destroy it with a simple word. O foolish man, it is only a fool who says there is no God. Consider the power that God holds in the palm of His hand. This breath-taking entity that has no beginning nor end, the great I AM. So many options available to Him, He could have chosen to create and script whatever He liked, as He is God. He answers to no-one! And yet He chose to send His Son to die for sinners while they were still his enemies, what character! My brilliant heavenly Father I stand in awe when I consider you lustre. How will you then escape O man if you neglect so great a gift in and through this gospel message, the message that Christ came to die for sinners and not for the self righteous? If you realise that you are a sinner and feel that God will not receive you because of your great sin, you are wrong my friend, He came because of your sin, repent call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved. Richard, Brett, Warren and Trevor do you hear the voice of God calling you name, do you? It will be a sad day if you neglect so great a salvation.

This now brings us to our scripture text; “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” You see the wise will not be so wise in eternity for many will enter through the broad gate; (Matthew 7:13) “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” Yet many of the poor and unsuccessful in this life will be first in heaven, they will be clothed in white garments. They will be called sons of God. As for Mr. Worldly Wise he will be last and for all eternity will find what he once thought was resourceful will now be hurtful as God judgement is his reward; (Matthew 8:12) “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

How then has God silenced the critic and the “Worldly Wise”? I love the simplicity of God’s plan and yet it is so profound that it will silence every mouth that opposes this great God. It is by the foolishness of preaching that God has channelled His power. What do I mean? You may be thinking, surely, I am not saying that men are vessels that have the ability to wield God’s power at will. Obviously Not! But I am convinced by scripture and echo the words of Paul; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” So then God has chosen to use His power in and through the Gospel, so it is this message that has the power to bring those who are spiritually dead to life. Do you see the brilliance, do you see the wisdom? It is not some theory of relativity that a mankind hunger after in their quest for brilliance but brilliancy is the power God uses in and through the gospel message to create life. Therefore we must not be ashamed of the gospel because it has the power to convert sinners in repentance to God. Do not be wise in your own eyes. We must trust an obey God, and it will go well with our souls. May we all find boldness to declare this great message of hope that once found us dead in our trespass and sin and yet we now live because of our great Saviour. Remember to love others in sharing our hope with them and per adventure that God would grant them repentance. May grace abound in our lives today.

Signing off

Tyrone

The Storms Calmed and the Seas Hushed.

(Psalms 107:29) “He made the storm be calm, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

The seas rage and the wind howls but a simple “be still” from the Lord and all is well.

How we need to be reminded of the power that our God brandishes in His hand. Our lives and especially my thoughts at times can power on at a hundred miles an hour. This morning is a day like that. It is the simplicity of God’s Word that must bring my thoughts into captivity and by His Word I need to re-establish godly reason to my understanding. It is the Lord Jesus I must find! What is it that one night’s sleep is sweet, while another is filled with anxiety? The war rages on; “for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)

I do not plan the outcome of my thought patterns, it’s not like I sit with a pen in hand and plot the views and the route they must take, as if I was planning my weekly diary. They just happen! Periodically they are filled with mischievousness and unfruitful thoughts run riot. But thankfully they often are filled with majestic almost uncontainable feelings of my great God; Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These times are sweet and filled with peace. However, how would we ever learn if we were always kept safe and never tested? I have seen parent chiefly with their first child how they protect their toddler, how they watch the kids every move, but before long the youngster is crawling and soon walking and has learnt to manoeuvre around obstacles because they soon learn that by bumping into them it is painful. It must be by the trial of our faith that His wisdom and knowledge is learnt. We need restless nights; we need tryouts that will test what we believe. Not that God needs to know what we will do, as He knows all things, but we need to be tested so that our own hearts may see who we are in Him. We love to claim triumph prior to the victory. We may and must believe God and all His promises, we must embrace our hope with both arms, but we must with soberness consider our walk before the Lord. “Not all who say Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.” We must be sure we are walking in the spirit and seeking out God’s will for our lives. Examine yourselves daily! Forget yesterday, today I need to fall on my knees and seek strength and direction from my Saviour to walk worthily in His vigour.

The bible makes reference to fearing God and even at times uses the word secret, as if it wields magical powers. It is penned like this; “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” King Solomon’s summation of life was this; (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

So, with all these truths bombarding our minds it is easy to lose focus on that which is important. We will look to another great example that will teach us to put our trust in the Lord Jesus.

(Matthew 8:24-27) “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"

To trust and obey must be our resolve for today, as we know what sort of man this was and still is; He is our Saviour, God who became a man, the One who died in our place, paying the penalty of our sin on a cruel Roman cross. He had the power to destroy all who had passed judgement on Him but instead chose to remember us, by dying for us, entitling all who have repented and believed on Him to the privilege we now share, as we cry “Abba Father.” The privilege of addressing the only true and awesome God as Father is quite phenomenal. When I look at the path of destruction the wake of my life has left in its shadow, I could easily be overshadowed by doubts and fears whereby I cry “save me Lord”. I must cry out “save me Lord” on a daily basis, yet with a slightly different pitch to my voice. My prayer now has a new throw to its tone as assurance in confidence in my Saviours ability rings true once again to my ears. I remember that He has the power to calm the storms; I remember that He was the one who cried, “It is finished” as He hung on the cross. I remember that I can in reverence call God my Father, all because of the great act of Calvary. My mind now begins to find tranquil peace as the Word of God in and through the power of God the Holy Spirit brings every deliberation back into perspective. Last night may have been restless, for whatever reason, another thought for another day, but now an hour and a half later sensible rational is the order of the day. Thank you Father in the mighty name of Jesus for the privilege that in and through the workings of God the Holy Spirit all you children can and will be conformed to a new way of thinking. Help all of us I pray to learn what it means to follow the Apostle Paul’s instruction; (Romans 12:1-2) “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Give us understanding so that in understanding we will make wise decisions so that we will not err. If we see with the eyes of our understanding we will not fall into sin. Understanding then will keep us from sin.

Signing off

Tyrone

God's Wrath!

(Revelation 11:18) “The nations raged, but your wrath came,”

What a frightening thought for all who reject God and His eternal gift of Salvation in and through the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The nations may rage, they may continue as they always have, even just like in the days of Noah; “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

That day will come as assuredly as the sun rises at the crack of dawn, so will the coming of the wrath of God in judgement befall the earth and on all who rage against Him. You may say because the spiritual realm is higher than the natural dominion and we cannot physically see the goings on around and about us and opt not to believe in its existence, I can assure you that doesn’t mean it isn’t real, It is as real as the pain you feel when you pinch you skin. Time stands still for no man, it is impossible to cheat time and so it will be impossible to ignore life after death in the spiritual sphere. God is a spirit and He is eternal, He has no beginning and neither an end yet He has created the spiritual empire and we all will somehow play a part in it. Some to life everlasting with a glorified body that will be incorruptible and it will be made up of the same substance that the Lord Jesus’ resurrected body consists of. Yet others, those you rage against God, all the “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things (practice) will not inherit the kingdom of God.” They will face God’s wrath, they will wish for death rather than His fury. There will be those who call for rocks to kill them rather than having to face an angry God.

(Revelation 6:16) “Calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” To them they will receive a judgement that I can barely even bring myself to pen, it will be so horrendous; they will be judged and cast into the “lake of fire” (hell) forever and ever. That means there will be no end to that pain, it will be a continuous gnashing and wailing of teeth. We all have experience pain in one form or another but the pain is soon forgotten when it subsides. However when it is active it is a terrible encounter, but imagine the familiarity never ending! Why, Why and Why will you not repent? Do you not believe this will happen, do you think God will be mocked? Or do you think this is all some fairy tale? I can guarantee you that all that the bible predicts will come to pass. Yes, one third of the earth will be destroyed by fire! (Revelation 8:7) “...And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.” Yes, there will be such tribulation on the earth that since its survival it will be the worst time it has ever had to envisage. It will be so treacherous that if God even in His rage did not have mercy and stop His judgement all would die. He wields the power of life and death in His hand and the sooner you learn to yield to Him the better off you will be. Resist Him and you will uncover the brunt of His wrath! (Matthew 24:21-22) “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

Even with all these warnings, “the nations raged” and “your wrath came.” So the facts remain the same. Yet in all this upcoming gloom and doom it has been written, (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There it is for the world across every nation tribe and tongue to embrace and lay hold of eternal life. (Acts 3:19) ”Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.” Today you have the chance to do exactly that, repent and turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full into His wonderful face. He alone can save you from the wrath which will come both in this life and the verve that is still coming. The saying that is flippantly bandied about “you only die once” is a lie from the very pit of hell. For most there will be a second death and that will mean hell forever and ever. (Revelation 2:11) “He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

To you my friends that have had some influence in my life that is why I can call you my friends, I appeal to you, Bandit, Richard, Warren and Trevor take heed to the warnings I as a friend share with you, my prayer is that you will find repentance and escape God’s judgement. I leave you with this... “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Fall to your knees and cry out to the only One who is able to save, cry out to Jesus and your sins will be forgiven you. There is no other way whereby a man may find forgiveness and be saved. I prayer Father that you would have mercy on these men; you alone can open their eyes to see. I pray that you mercy may reach them and faith through grace would find them. I pray to you my heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ your Son and my Saviour as you alone wield the power to grant the request of my prayer.

Signing off

Tyrone